Oxford list of top ten irritating phrases

Researchers at Oxford University have come up with a list of the top ten irritating phrases.

1 – At the end of the day

2 – Fairly unique

3 – I personally

4 – At this moment in time

5 – With all due respect

6 – Absolutely

7 – It’s a nightmare

8 – Shouldn’t of

9 – 24/7

10 – It’s not rocket science

Researchers glean the phrases from a collection of contemporary publications. It is less clear how they rank the words according to annoyingness.

The researchers who compiled the list monitor the use of phrases in a database called the Oxford University Corpus, which comprises books, papers, magazines, broadcast, the internet and other sources.

The database alerts them to new words and phrases and can tell them which expressions are disappearing.

Readers are apparently excited by this list and so far have contributed 2484 comments, many with their own nominations for irritating phrases:

my bad

you know what I’m sayin’

“Needless to say” followed immediately by what the speaker just admitted was needless to say

His ‘untimely death,’ as if there is usually a good time for it.

Having said that.

“Almost Exactly”

“I hear what you are saying” – which translates to -> “I don’t give a damn about your opinion and I want you to shut up;

Using “Goes” as a verb, usually to replace “said”. “He goes ‘Wow!’ and then she goes ‘I’m serious!'” Where did they go?

“Think outside the box”
If everybody thought outside the box what would we need boxes for?

I cannot STAND the phrase “to think outside the box” – especially since it is used to convey the idea that one is an original thinker. Using such a boring cliche suggests that the speaker is anything BUT original!

“My friends”
“Change”

“ATM machine” (What do you think the M stands for?); and
“PIN number” (What do you think the N stands for?)